Downy Quilts for Kids Projects

I have been busy these last few days.  I was truckin' my mom's trailer up to Loveland and hangin' with the fam!  Beautiful weather and gorgeous blue skies!  The wind in not favorable tho!

I was watching television one day and a commercial came on sponsored by Downy fabric softener.   It is called Downy Quilts for Kids.  It made me want to quilt.  I had quilted before, mostly large applique blankets tied with yarn.  I have been doing this since 1998.  Quilting but not true quilting with piecing and quilting layers together.  I requested a kit from their website and started getting to it.  I used my Singer 1862 beast of a machine.  It is from the 1980's.  Great machine and will sew through anything.  I purchased a walking foot from a local shop downtown that has recently shut it doors :(.  I was working on the quilts and I was loving it.  I was looking at some newer sewing machines that were especially made for quilting.  My wonderful husband suggested that I go to a store in Pueblo called Creative Sewing Design, http://www.creativelysew.com/.  They sell Janome and Bernina machines.  I test drove a Janome 6600 and I fell in love.  I called Dan from the parking lot and he said "Get it"!!!!  Yeah!  It has a built in walking foot system with loads of great stitches.  Now I was really sewing!  I finished these two projects for the Quilt for Kids program.

I joined the local quilt guild http://www.royalgorgequiltcouncil.org.futuresite.register.com/ and promoted the Quilts for Kids program.  A number of really great ladies donated some time and quilts to the cause too!  They are greatly in need of boys quilts now so I think it's time I do some more quilting for the kids.


Here is the link:  http://www.quiltsforkids.org/.  If you like to quilt look into quilting some quilts for some sick kiddos.  If you can't quilt, help out the people that send out material and send quilts to hospitals.  Happy stitching!

New comfy cozy blanket!

I have to admit that I still sleep with a teddy bear and I am almost 34!  I decided that I would make my own comfy and cozy blanket to sleep with.  Why not, it works for my kids!  I cut 6 inch squares and added a 1 1/2 inch row between squares, then a 3 1/2 inch border on the sides.  The back is flannel so it is so toasty!  I did something a little new and brave for this project.  I free motion quilted the hearts to bind the layers together.  No stencils, no guide lines, just my free motion foot on my machine and where ever the stitch took me.  I started it and looked at it and thought it would not look good, but I just went forth with it and it turned out better than I thought!

The name of my blanket is, "Love and Comfort In Every Stitch"

Fun Saturday!

Today was my quilting council meeting.  I am now a proud committee member in charge of membership!  Fun to get involved and get people excited about being involved!  There was even a couple of new members today!  It was a great meeting and I think everyone is ready for Spring!  Our local quilt shop The Creative Quilt Closet http://quiltingfabriccolorado.com/blog-creative-cloth-closet/, had a great sale today on fat quarters.  This is what I picked up today.  LOVE the material.  The hearts and colors are so beautiful.  Wonderful material to add to my stash!

During the meeting I met some ladies that have hand embroidery hobbies too.  I got some ideas from them.  I decided to go organize my thread stash.  I went to Wal-Mart and got a fishing tackle box and organized the thread cards in it.  This is a great way to organize my colors and makes it so much easier to select the color I need.  I found a local store http://www.facebook.com/pages/Grandmas-Beads-and-Yarn/127932877271756 that carries the DMC cotton thread and I found some gorgeous colors.  

I like the fit of the card in the box and the portability of it.  I had most of these colors left over from when I was a camp counselor and learned how to make friendship bracelets!  Good times! 

Family quilts...

Here is a quilt I made for my mother-in-law.  It was a fabric challenge at my quilting guild.  They gave us 4 fabrics and we had to incorporate them into a quilt called "Grandma's Flower Garden".  There were no rules except to use the fabrics we were given.  Any size, pattern...  Typically grandma's flower garden blocks are hexagons made into flowers. I choose the wedge shape and made stripes.  I added other fabrics I had found that I thought she might like.  I called it "Grand Maggie's Flower Garden Fence".  She has beautiful flowers all around her house and a green house she makes fresh veggies in during the cold winters of Oklahoma.  She has a green thumb!

I made an Oklahoma State themed quilt for my husband.  He graduated from OSU in 1998!  He helped me tie-dye the black and the orange flannel backing.  He wanted a snuggling lap quilt and this one ended up being a KING SIZED quilt!  It got away from me.  It is so heavy and warm.  He loves it and it was great fun to make for him.

This is a T-shirt quilt I made for a cousin.  He gave me about 16 t-shits and I cut them up and ironed on fusible backing to prevent stretching.  He wanted a fleece backing.  It was heavy!  If I were to do it again I would get the 16 inch ruler and cut all the squares the same size.  My pattern called for a 16 inch ruler for adult t's and 12 inch ruler for children's t's.  I used this pattern:
http://www.quiltinaday.com/shoponline/patterns_display.asp?i=14654
Not an expensive quilt to make and ended up turning out great.  I think he liked it.  It is a great way to use up old t's you love and to preserve a memory!

My new love-hand embroidery!

Here is my new love: hand embroidery! I made this cover for my Janome Jem sewing machine.  I use this little machine for its free arm and for its light weight.  I can take it to sewing classes and use it for sewing while watching my favorite soap OLTL!!!

I made this cupcake hand embroidered cover for my Janome 6600.  It is a wall hanging type quilt.  I just drape it over the machine to keep the dust off.  LOVE the cupcake material.  

My new blog!

I am always creating something and I wanted a way to share with everyone what I am up to.  I have played with the idea of a blog for awhile now and I decided today was the day to share!